Families planning a North Myrtle Beach outing can choose between a guided paddle through Cherry Grove Marsh, a walk on a nature trail or a boat trip to an undeveloped barrier island. The options offer a closer look at coastal habitats and wildlife than a day spent entirely on the beach, while giving families different ways to explore South Carolina's Grand Strand.
For a guided introduction to the marsh, Great Escapes Kayak Expeditions runs a two-hour Cherry Grove Marsh tour timed around the tides, according to The Seattle Times. Depending on conditions, paddlers may see blue herons, egrets, bald eagles, osprey, ducks, marsh hens and brown pelicans; oyster beds can be exposed or covered as the tide shifts.
A Boat Trip to Waites Island
Waites Island holds more than 1,000 acres of undeveloped land and provides habitat for sea turtles, dolphins, ducks, bald eagles and osprey, the outlet reports. It's accessible only by boat, and Great Escapes runs a three-hour outing along its shore that leaves time to comb the beach for shells. Trailblaze Adventure also runs its own Cherry Grove salt marsh tour for families looking for a different guide or schedule.
The island's undeveloped character reflects years of conservation work. Waties Island is Horry County's only undeveloped barrier island and is transitioning into a South Carolina State Park and Heritage Trust Preserve, following a multi-year land assembly led by the Open Space Institute, according to the North Myrtle Beach Times. The effort brought fragmented parcels together to protect the coastline from high-density resort development, the paper reports.
Much of the island's protection traces back three decades. More than 1,100 acres were placed into permanent conservation in 1995 when environmentalist Anne Tilghman Boyce gifted her portion to Coastal Carolina University through the Coastal Educational Foundation under a Nature Conservancy easement, establishing the Anne Tilghman Boyce Coastal Reserve, per the same outlet's historical account. The land has since served as an outdoor laboratory for CCU marine science students studying coastal dynamics and wildlife.
Waites Island's undeveloped beaches are also a regional nesting sanctuary for loggerhead sea turtles during summer, according to Visit Myrtle Beach. The outlet says light pollution from resort high-rises on surrounding beaches deters nesting turtles.
A Boardwalk Option at Heritage Shores
Closer to shore, Heritage Shores Nature Preserve features elevated boardwalks through 7 acres of Cherry Grove Marsh along with informational signs explaining the ecosystem, The Seattle Times reports, and families paddling or walking the area may spot bottlenose dolphins from the shoreline or nearby waterways. The preserve, established by the City of North Myrtle Beach in 2007, sits on an island inside Cherry Grove Marsh reached by a short walk from the local boat ramp and includes observation docks, two shade shelters and a 40-station self-guided interpretive nature trail, according to the City of North Myrtle Beach.
Access and Parking
The City of North Myrtle Beach says visitors to Heritage Shores Nature Preserve park at the western end of 53rd Avenue North and walk four blocks to the entrance. At Cherry Grove Park & Boat Ramp, parking is paid from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the City's Heritage Shores access information and Cherry Grove Park & Boat Ramp information.
The preserve's existence followed a local campaign over a proposed bridge that would have opened marshland to residential development. Environmental groups including the National Sierra Club and the South Carolina Conservation League opposed the project, and the island was preserved in its natural state, according to North Myrtle Beach Fishing Charters. A separate route, the Cherry Grove Nature Preserve, has a mile-long round-trip boardwalk, The Seattle Times reports.
These marshes are also important to the region's economy and resilience. South Carolina has between 344,500 and 350,000 acres of salt marsh—the most of any state on the Atlantic coast and roughly a third of the South Atlantic salt marsh ecosystem—according to the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources says marshes provide nursery grounds for more than 75% of the state's commercial and recreational seafood species, including shrimp, blue crab, redfish and flounder, while decaying marsh grass supplies nutrients to the coastal food web. According to NOAA Fisheries, South Atlantic salt marshes also filter pollution and help reduce damage from storms and flooding.
Before You Go
Kayak tours are scheduled around tides, so families should check tour times, weather and age requirements before booking, according to The Seattle Times. Requirements vary by operator, and some offer tandem kayaks so adults and children can paddle together. Cherry Grove Kayaking delivers kayaks, paddles and life jackets to Cherry Grove Park, the boat ramp or vacation rentals. Explore North Myrtle Beach recommends fall for warmer temperatures and lighter crowds and encourages visitors to plan ahead, use reusable items, pack out trash and stay on designated paths. Visitors can also take part in beach cleanups and other conservation activities.
The push toward this kind of trip tracks with broader shifts in family travel. More than three-quarters of parents report that traveling together brings families closer and enriches children's education, and the 2025 U.S. Family Travel Survey found that 92% of parents planned to travel with their children, the highest level of parental travel intent recorded since before the pandemic. That survey, presented by the Family Travel Association, the NYU Tisch Center of Hospitality and Good Housekeeping, also found that 61% of parents say involving kids ages 7 to 18 in trip planning boosts their happiness and engagement, a trend the industry has nicknamed kidfluence, according to NYU School of Professional Studies.
Families are also willing to pay for it. The same survey found 81% of families planned to increase or maintain domestic travel spending after average family vacation costs jumped 20% in 2024 to $8,052, even though 73% of parents cited overall travel affordability as a major concern. Beach vacations ranked as the most popular planned trip type, cited by 62% of respondents ahead of visiting relatives at 61% and theme or water parks at 45%, putting North Myrtle Beach's paddling tours squarely inside the nation's top family vacation category. Separately, research from Road Scholar found more than half of respondents open to or considering multigenerational travel within the following year.
Kimberly Stroh is an Atlanta-based family travel writer and founder of Savvy Mama Lifestyle. Her work has covered travel, destinations and parenting since 2015 and is syndicated to more than 10 million readers through platforms including MSN.
